


As in a Mirror Dimly

by tacomuerte



Series: Dianakko Week 2017 [5]
Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Canon-Typical Violence, Dianakko Week 2017, F/F, Force Bond (Star Wars), The Entire Gang Is Here..., in One Form or Another
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 01:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12158742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacomuerte/pseuds/tacomuerte
Summary: Attachment… Love… Regret…These things are forbidden to Jedi.Akko Kagari, Jedi Knight, has known this her entire life. Attachment blinded Akko as her best friend, Diana, fell to the Dark Side of the Force. Love prevented Akko from stopping Diana after she renounced the Jedi Code and attacked Master Ur-Sool Callis. Regret haunts Akko still as Divis Ren, the woman Akko knew as Diana Kavandi, carries out the bidding of the First Order and Grand Admiral Croix Meridies.Now, as Akko once again comes face to face with her oldest friend and fiercest rival, she faces a choice. Does she let go of her feelings for Diana? Or does she risk falling to the Dark Side herself to try and save her friend?Dianakko Week 2017: Day 6 - Crossover/AU





	As in a Mirror Dimly

_A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…_

_It is a time of unrest._

_Fifty years have passed since the defeat of Supreme Leader Snoke. Upon his death, the New Republic and the fractious remnants of the First Order resumed a tenuous peace. Since then, conflicts between the two galactic powers have been relegated to proxies and puppets used in attempts to undermine and destabilize each other._

_A new Jedi Council has been established independent of the New Republic, although they provide what aid and support they can to the continuing efforts of the Resistance inside First Order territories. Wary of becoming embroiled in the types of political machinations which led to the destruction of the original Jedi Council, the new council devotes itself to mediating peaceful negotiations and hunting and destroying devotees of the Dark Side of the Force._

_In this time of shadow wars, the Jedi’s greatest enemies are the Knights of Ren, who after the fall of Snoke have officially been branded criminals and outlaws by the New Republic. While the First Order insists the Knights of Ren no longer operate under their authority, they are in truth the most powerful agents and assassins of Grand Admiral Meridies as she consolidates power inside the First Order, seeking to become the new Supreme Leader._

_Seeking to stop the Grand Admiral before she unites the First Order and leads it against the New Republic, Jedi Master Ur-Sool Callis has dispatched her most trusted Jedi Knight, Akko Kagari, to seek the truth behind rumors that a lone Knight of Ren is on a quest to resurrect a forbidden weapon…_

* * * 

The shuttle dropped out of hyperspace at the farthest edge of the system, and from the navigator’s seat, Akko made a quick check of the ship’s scanners to see if there were obvious signs of a trap. The scanners showed no trace of First Order ships, or any other ships for that matter. Just as she expected.

“We’re clear,” she announced, hoping she sounded more assured than she felt.

Hanna, the smuggler who was serving as their transport pilot for the mission, glared silently at Akko. She had voiced her objections earlier, but a stack of credits large enough to strain the Council’s little-discussed budget had convinced the hesitant pilot to keep the complaints to herself. It didn’t mean she liked the idea of a “quick stop” in a forbidden system, though, as her face made very clear.

Of course, while that stack of credits was enough to buy the loyalty of Hanna and her partner, Barra, that didn’t apply to the other passengers on the ship.

Akko didn’t have to worry about one of her Jedi companions. Lotte had been through enough tough missions with Akko over the past two years to trust her. Akko knew that she could seem reckless and overly enthusiastic at times, but she had faith that the Force would always guide her, and over time Lotte had come to share that faith. Still, the other two Jedi assigned to the mission, Ama Oneel and Jas Tonenko, weren’t happy with the destination Akko had insisted on.

While Jas buried her unhappiness by munching on a nutrient bar, Ama was more vocal.

“Great,” the tall redhead groaned. “Welcome to Malachor. Mind telling me again why we’re in a system explicitly forbidden to Jedi, Akko?” Ama didn’t give Akko a chance to reply before continuing, “Oh, wait. You _never_ told us why we’re going to Malachor in the first place, did you?”

Ama’s snark pulled a chuckle from the Dathomirian informant who had set them on the trail of the Knight of Ren. S’Cee had tagged along claiming that she didn’t trust the Jedi to honor a deal with a Nightsister, and she wanted her credits. Akko suspected the real reason she was still with them was because S’Cee had a perverse desire to watch a Jedi and Knight of Ren duel. Akko liked S’Cee, but the woman had some darker tendencies the young Jedi felt obliged to overlook from time to time out of friendship… and the fact that S’Cee had never really embraced the Dark Side as far as Akko knew.

Ignoring them both, Akko turned to speak to their astromech droid, C0-N5. “Cons,” Akko said, using her nickname for the droid. “Can you go help Barra check on the hyperdrive motivator?”

The last thing Akko wanted was a faulty hyperdrive motivator if the mission went sour, and considering who they were up against, that was a very real possibility. The little droid wheeled off, seeming happy to be away from the argument.

Seeing Ama’s annoyance at being ignored, Akko decided she should give as much of an explanation as she could. Truthfully, she should tell them everything, but her past with the woman called Divis Ren was… complicated.

“Ama,” Akko began, her tone conciliatory. “When S’Cee told us she overheard someone named Divis Ren was looking for a Dark Side artifact on Lothal…”

The young Jedi paused trying to figure out the best way to say what she needed to say without giving away everything. She owed her friends that much at least.

“Many years ago during the time of the Galactic Empire, something dangerous was hidden on Lothal,” Akko paused again, noting that everyone’s attention was completely focused on her now. Even Hanna had slowed their approach to Malachor to listen. Breathing out a sigh, Akko looked out at the gray, dead planet, Malachor, as she finished her explanation. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy as to what it is, but if the First Order obtains this item, then the consequences will be disastrous for the galaxy.”

Ama’s mouth was a hard, determined line. “Good enough for me. You’ve been acting jittery since the witch,” she said, nodding towards S’Cee, “mentioned Lothal. I’m not used to you being so on edge is all. If the Chosen One is nervous, then how should the rest of us feel?”

The redhead ended her question with a laugh, but Akko avoided her gaze. Everyone liked to joke about Akko’s role as the Chosen One, the Jedi of this generation who would bring balance to the Force. Akko herself had once loved that she was the Chosen One… loved that she was vindicated for her faith in her own abilities when most of her Jedi teachers believed that her control of the Force was too erratic to ever become a Padawan, let alone be knighted as a full Jedi.

The Chosen One… a title Akko used to feel so proud to have before everything went wrong. She couldn’t help but think back to more innocent days when she and her best friend, Diana Kavandi, grew up together in the Jedi Temple, the two potential candidates of destiny… During their early years at the temple, the Council couldn’t decide if Akko’s raw talent or Diana’s focused dedication indicated which of them was the Chosen One, until the day both of them were elevated to Padawan status and Master Ur-Sool had a vision clearly showing Akko’s destiny as the Chosen One. 

That day, which she had believed would always be the best of her life, and the title that went with it was now sour in her mind. Master Ur-Sool told her she needed to let go of her guilt. It was unbecoming of a Jedi to hold remorse and pain in her heart, or it would lead her to the Dark Side.

It was easier said than done.

Blinking back a tear, Akko quietly said, “We should hurry.”

Hanna nodded and kicked in the boosters. “Right.”

Within moments, Akko could sense her quarry.

_Anger… arrogance… derision…_

_Divis Ren._

“She’s here,” Akko murmured. “I can sense her presence.”

Lotte’s eyes snapped to hers. “From this distance?”

Ama snorted, teasing, “Must be nice to be the Chosen One. All that strength in the Force.”

Ignoring the friendly jibe, Akko admitted, “She can sense me, too.”

A silence settled over the shuttle.

“I take it that’s bad?” Hanna asked.

“The Knight is that powerful?” Jas asked quietly.

Akko nodded. Divis Ren was incredibly strong in the Force. That wasn’t the reason she and Akko could sense each other from this distance, but that wasn’t something the others needed to know. She and Divis Ren had always had the ability to sense each other when they were both inside the same star system, no matter how far apart they might be. Sometimes, Akko could feel glimpses of Divis Ren in her mind from halfway across the galaxy.

Barra came into the crew compartment, wiping a good amount of grease off her hand with a towel before running the same hand through her dark hair. “Good news and bad news,” she announced before noticing the mood. “Um… I take it I’m not the only one with bad news?”

Ama scoffed. “Just Jedi stuff. What’s the situation?” Leave it to Ama to cut the tension. Akko loved that about her.

Barra shrugged. “Our hyperdrive motivator is deader than the Hosnian system.”

Akko winced and noticed everyone except Hanna and S’Cee grimaced. Those two smirked at the tasteless joke. 

“Too soon?” Barra asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“It’ll always be too soon,” Lotte answered bluntly, earning a shrug from Barra. 

“Deader than Alderaan then?” she amended. Gallows humor was a constant among smugglers. “Anyway,” Barra continued. “Your droid is brilliant, Ama. With her help, I can get the motivator rigged well enough to get us to a system where we can do real repairs.”

“Alright,” Ama replied. “That’s the bad news. What’s the good news?”

Barra snorted out a laugh. “That _was_ the good news. Bad news is I have to take the engine offline to patch the motivator.”

“So we’re going to be dead in space while you fix it?” Akko asked, distracted by Divis Ren’s growing presence in her mind as they closed on Malachor.

Hanna cut her eyes toward Akko. “Barra’s great and all, but I’m not cutting the engines until this ship is on the ground.”

Akko nodded and stared out at the approaching planet grimly. Her mood infected the rest of the group and they all waited quietly on planetfall.

Less than an hour later, Hanna brought the ship down to the surface of Malachor, landing on a flat expanse Akko directed her towards. 

As everyone exited the ship, Akko blew out a breath and focused. She needed to be in control of her feelings, or the upcoming confrontation with the Knight of Ren would be disastrous.

“Hanna,” Akko said, in her best commander’s voice. “You and Barra stay here along with Cons.” The Jedi patted the small droid. “The three of you fix that motivator so we can get out of here fast.”

“Jas,” Akko said next. “Mind staying, too? If trouble finds the ship, I’d feel better if at least one Jedi was here to keep our ride safe. No offense to the pilot and engineer,” she added, sheepishly.

“None taken,” Hanna and Barra said in unison with matching smirks. 

Jas also smiled and said, “Okay!” She made herself comfortable, but everyone knew she was already alert for trouble.

“S’Cee…” Akko began but the Dathomirian witch waved her off.

“No, I’m coming. This seems like it might be… interesting,” she said with a wicked grin.

Akko rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The three Jedi and the Nightsister began their journey towards some ruined columns a short distance away.

“I thought this was a frozen lake at first,” Ama commented.

“No, it’s artificial,” Lotte supplied, and Akko grunted agreement.

“I have a question,” S’Cee said as they came close to the columns and the very large hole surrounding them.

“Yes?” Akko asked, her attention focused on their destination.

“Why not bring the ship down inside the hole?” the Dathomirian asked. “It’s huge.”

“And give the Knight a chance to take out the ship while we’re still in the air?” Akko replied.

S’Cee grunted her agreement. “Hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“We’ll need to jump. Don’t touch the columns once we’re down there,” Akko warned as they came close. She could feel the Dark Side of the Force emanating from them. “Will you be okay, S’Cee?”

The witch snorted at Akko and laughed before jumping through the opening. 

Akko quickly followed. As she neared the ground, she used the Force to cushion her landing beside S’Cee.

Her Jedi companions landed gracefully a second later. It wouldn’t be long now.

Striding forward with purpose, Akko led the way towards the pyramid in the distance.

“Great,” Ama said, dryly. “A Sith Temple. This day gets better and better.”

“Why don’t you have your lightsabers drawn, Akko?” S’Cee asked nonchalantly, and Akko wondered just what it would take to unsettle the Dathomirian. “I mean, you said she can sense us already.”

Akko shrugged. “No point. She’s waiting up ahead at the temple.”

“She is?” Lotte asked. “You can still sense her?”

“You _can’t_ sense her, Lotte? Ama?” Akko replied, surprised.

“No,” Lotte said, curtly. She was nervous. Lotte was one of Akko’s closest friends and believed in her fully, but even she had her limits.

“Nope,” Ama answered, annoyance lacing her tone. “I can sense someone masking themselves with the Force, but that’s it, and I wouldn’t even be able to sense that if I hadn’t known we were looking for someone Force-sensitive already.”

For the next few minutes, they walked in silence between the gray statues, transfixed in death.

“What is all this?” Ama asked as they walked. 

Akko glanced to see she was pointing at the statues scattered around them. “I think this is what’s left of a battle.”

Lotte nodded. “Definitely. The lightsabers on the ground are ancient. This must have been thousands of years ago during the Old Sith Wars.”

S’Cee seemed more interested in the petrified victims of the battle than Akko thought was healthy, so she encouraged them to pick up the pace.

Soon, they came to the edge of the temple and quickly decided the best way to get in was to climb to where some sort of explosion had torn off the tip of the pyramid.

Ama shrugged. “Beats fighting through all the Sith boobytraps. She still here, Akko?”

Akko nodded. “Up there, so be careful as you climb.”

Climbing, however, proved more difficult than anticipated. The sides of the temple were sheer and offered no handholds. Finally, they found a strange, stone elevator, and after some minutes of trying to get it to move, Lotte determined that it would only work with two of them.

“The Sith and their obsession with the Rule of Two,” Akko growled.

Lotte gave her friend a meaningful look. “Akko,” she said carefully. “You must keep your temper in check.”

Akko sighed and nodded. “You’re right.”

Ama gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. “Akko, is this… personal for you?”

For a long moment, the young Jedi didn’t reply. Finally, she said, “I’ve crossed lightsabers with her before.”

That was the truth… from a certain point of view at least. She and Diana had sparred as Padawan learners, but she had never fought Divis Ren. In fact, Akko hadn’t seen Divis Ren since the night she and Master Ur-Sool had confronted the young woman over her increasingly erratic behavior… the night that Diana abandoned the Jedi code to join the Knights of Ren. Akko hadn’t fought Diana that night, either. There was a brief exchange of blades between Master Ur-Sool and Diana, but the younger Jedi had fled the Jedi temple as Akko watched frozen, unable to draw her weapon against Diana. 

Lotte interrupted her thoughts. “Akko and I should go up first,” the blonde Jedi offered. “You’re the best with a lightsaber, Ama, so you should stay with S’Cee. If the Knight attacks, Akko and I can hold her off until the two of you get there. If she attacks while you’re on the elevator, you’ll stand the best chance one-on-one.”

S’Cee shrugged. Akko knew the witch could handle herself in a fight, but the Dathomirian rarely advertised that fact.

When the stone elevator arrived at the top, Akko and Lotte stepped off and sent it back down. Ahead, the shattered remains of the pyramid’s tip lay scattered and dim light illuminated the inside of the temple.

Akko steeled herself. She could almost reach out and touch the roiling, turbulent sea of emotions centered a few scant meters away. The Jedi Knight hadn’t felt this particular presence since that terrible night on Ahch-To, but it was just how she remembered it. 

She had missed this. She missed being this close to Diana. She knew she wasn’t supposed to desire to be close to someone like this. She was a Jedi… the Chosen One… Akko wasn’t supposed to have attachments, let alone need someone the way she needed Diana near her. 

But this familiar dark storm of emotions drew her in the same way they always did, regardless of what Akko was supposed to feel. How could she resist? 

Akko immersed herself in the sensations she had missed so much. Diana’s feelings and passions mixed together, twisting and rising and falling so fast that Akko couldn’t separate them and feel the individual strands. Diana’s feelings had always boiled close to the surface, as had Akko’s, but Diana had perfected a mask of serenity that fooled everyone but Akko. It had taken years for Akko to figure out she was the only one who could see what was really going on inside Diana. 

By then it was far too late. Another failure a “Chosen One” worth anything would have prevented.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lotte reach for her lightsaber. Akko stilled her friend’s hand.

“No,” she said, offering no explanation.

“I trust your instincts,” Lotte replied, and Akko felt a small bit of relief. She hoped Lotte wasn’t wrong to do so. “Akko, how does Divis Ren get up here if it takes two to operate the elevator?”

“No idea,” Akko answered honestly.

Moments later, the pair was joined by Ama and S’Cee. The redhead raised an eyebrow at Akko, and the meaning was clear. Why didn’t they have their lightsabers at the ready?

“I want to talk to her,” Akko stated flatly. She wasn’t going to argue about this. This was her mission.

“You want to… _talk_ to a Knight of Ren?” Lotte asked, incredulous.

S’Cee hummed suspiciously, and Ama rolled her eyes.

“Fine,” the tempestuous Jedi sighed. “Akko, The Chosen One, wants to have tea with the enemy or something. Sure, you’re the boss. Whatever.”

Ignoring her companions, Akko walked into the temple with her guard down. She already knew exactly where Diana sat. She could almost see her former friend in her mind.

Her stomach lurched as they entered the temple proper and Akko got her first ever look at Divis Ren, reclining on a rough, stone chair which looked hewn from the temple itself. The woman looked as if she was casually relaxed and unaware she was being stalked by Jedi, but Akko knew better.

The Knight of Ren was dressed in black armor from head to toe, just as all Knights of Ren did, but Divis’ armor was smooth plasteel plates over flexible mesh armor at the joints, elegantly put together, where most Knights wore straightforward, bulky armor. Her lightsaber was still clipped to her belt, and her head was tilted at a slight, questioning angle.

Sitting up straight, Divis Ren greeted her visitors. “Welcome to Malachor,” she said, her helmet’s voice modulator twisting her voice into a cross between a growl and a cat’s purr. “I’m honored to have the _Chosen One_ visit my home.” 

Akko’s stomach twisted at the way Divis Ren spat out her title. She longed for the days before destiny had twisted Diana’s heart with jealousy.

No, she thought. What’s done is done. I can’t change the past, but I can still save her. I know I can.

Her companions waited for her to take the lead, but Akko felt frozen where she stood as Divis Ren continued, “I must admit my surprise. Malachor is forbidden to Jedi, and for good reason. We wouldn’t want you tempted by the Dark Side, would we?”

The amusement and derision in Diana’s tone was too much for Akko. She stepped forward and said, “You call this world your home now?” While she spoke, she reached out with her mind to her former friend.

_Your home is on Ahch-To with me, Diana. Why can’t you see that?_

The answer came through clear, and Akko’s heart split in two as she heard Diana’s true voice echo in her mind for the first time in nearly a decade, “ _There is no Diana. Not any longer. I am only Divis Ren. Like others before me, I have left a name in the past to make myself a new destiny._ ”

“My master granted me this world, Jedi,” Divis Ren said aloud. “Here, I have everything I need for my research,” she said as she motioned to the workbenches covered in bits of machinery and texts opened to various pages. “What more could I want?”

“Your master?” That was news to Akko. She didn’t think Diana would apprentice herself to another Knight of Ren. All reports indicated she was in a lead position in the dark order. “Your master must not think much of you to give you a dead world to rule alone.”

Divis Ren shrugged and stood. “If you’re only here to insult my home…”

“Give us the holocron, Divis,” Akko interrupted. “Hand it over and surrender.”

She could feel the surprise radiating from her companions, which was echoed by Divis Ren’s words.

“Surrender?” the Knight asked. “I didn’t think Jedi offered that choice to Knights of Ren.”

“You’re outnumbered four to one,” Ama said, inserting herself into the conversation. She was never one for patience. “We have the advantage.”

“Do you?” Divis asked, chuckling.

S’Cee’s eyes widened. “It’s a trap!”

A half dozen IG assassin droids stalked into view from shadowy alcoves along the walls, flanking the Jedi and the witch.

A satchel flew off a workbench into Divis’ hand. “I offer you one chance, Jedi, since you were courteous enough to make a similar offer to me,” she said, amused. “Surrender and leave. Never return… or you can die here today.”

In response, Ama and Lotte ignited their sabers, and S’Cee drew her force-bow as the droids moved to attack.

Akko leaped at Divis, but the latter retreated down a hallway, concealed behind her throne, and the Jedi gave pursuit without a second thought. She was confident the others weren’t going to be beaten by a few droids.

“Diana!” Akko screamed as she rounded a corner into a dimly lit, wide chamber with a low ceiling.

Her prey froze at the other end of the room. Spinning to face Akko, she spat out, “Diana is dead. I told you already!” She ignited her crimson lightsaber and took a hesitant step towards Akko. The lightsaber, just like her armor, was graceful and sleek, so unlike the other Knights of Ren.

More than anything in years, the hesitation in Divis Ren’s approach gave Akko hope.

“I’ve kept track of you,” Akko said, pleading. Divis paused as Akko continued, “You’ve never operated outside of First Order space until you went to Lothal. Even then, you avoided people as much as possible while searching for the holocron.”

Akko could sense Diana’s anger and fear at Akko’s words. Pressing her advantage, the Jedi kept speaking, hoping her friend was still in there somewhere. “It would have been so much easier and faster for you to torture information out of the people guarding the fragments of the holocron on Lothal. 

“But you didn’t, Diana. You waited until you could take the remnants of the holocron without hurting anyone.”

“Convenience,” Divis growled. “Nothing more. It should have made it harder to track me.”

Akko shook her head. “No,” she insisted. “You’ve not fallen completely. There is good inside you, Diana. Even now, you’ve only ever fought the enemies of Grand Admiral Meridies inside the First Order. You’ve restricted yourself to fighting enemies of the Jedi, Diana. You’ve never fought the Resistance. You’ve never led raids against the New Republic. You’ve never hunted Jedi with the other Knights of Ren. I haven’t lost you yet!

“But this?” Akko said waving a hand at the walls of the Sith temple. “This weapon you’re researching? It’s evil, Diana. Pure evil. You rebuild this temple, and there’s no saving you. I’m begging you, Diana. Come home with me… _please_!”

The Knight of Ren’s hesitation stretched, and for a brief moment, Akko thought her faith might be rewarded, but suddenly Divis raised her blade.

It was not to attack Akko, though. Ama flew over Akko’s shoulder and her blade came down, crashing into Divis Ren’s with the unmistakable crackle and screech of two lightsabers meeting in battle.

The two remained locked for a moment while Akko stood stunned. 

“No, Ama!” Akko shouted finally. 

“People who are surrendering,” Ama growled, still pressing her blade to Divis’. “Don’t usually have their lightsabers ready to attack.”

The two combatants sprang backwards lightsabers still raised. 

“Don’t worry, Akko. The others are fine. They’ve got the droids pinned,” Ama said as she shifted into the Djem So stance and Divis took the Makashi stance.

“Interesting,” Ama said, turning her attention to her opponent, eagerness rising in her voice. She rarely encountered anyone who could even think about keeping up with her in lightsaber duels. Most Knights of Ren used simple brute force instead of the practiced forms of lightsaber combat. “You know what you’re doing at least.”

Akko could feel Diana’s smirk behind her mask as the Knight responded, “You have no idea, Jedi.”

Diana swiftly moved forward and re-engaged with Ama. The two fought for several moments while Akko stood rooted to the floor. Everything was going wrong, just like last time.

The redheaded Jedi’s own smirk began to falter. The duel had began with her easily parrying Divis’ attacks and sliding into ripostes of her own. It quickly became apparent, though, that Divis was a match for her, with neither able to gain true advantage.

“Akko,” Ama shouted. “If you’re done admiring us, I’d like to end this now!”

As much as she wanted to help end the fight, Akko felt paralyzed. In her mind she was a young apprentice again, powerless to intervene between her Master and her best friend.

Ama snarled and shoved Divis back with a force push. “Fine,” she said, angrily. “I’ll do it myself.” 

She sprang forward shifting into Vaapad as she went on the offensive. This was Ama’s ace in the hole. She was one of two Jedi since Master Windu who could truly claim to have mastered the aggressive, unpredictable Vaapad form, and for the past nine years since Diana Kavandi’s reported death, she had been the only remaining master of the form.

Ama became a whirling blur of attacks, stabbing and slashing from multiple angles, while Divis Ren fell back into Soresu. Now, the advantage lay with the Jedi as she pushed the Knight back with attack after attack.

Finally, Divis’ parries and blocks weren’t up to the task, and Ama delivered a glancing blow to the Knight’s armor, and Ama used a force push to throw the other combatant against the wall. 

Backing up, Ama smirked. “Want to reconsider that surrender?”

Divis’ only response was a snarl as she flung herself forward, now also in Vaapad form, launching a flurry of attacks Ama struggled to parry.

Ama’s eyes widened as she recovered her form. “Who _are_ you?” she growled.

Instead of answering, Divis redoubled her efforts.

“You still overcommit to feints, Oneel,” Divis hissed, and Ama gasped at the realization of who her opponent truly was. This was the opening the Knight needed, and she cut clean through Ama’s lightsaber hilt and knocked the redhead to the ground with a kick to the midsection.

Divis held her blade pointed at Ama’s throat, but the Jedi only cut her eyes to Akko. “You knew,” she accused.

Akko took a deep breath and drew her lightsaber, igniting it as she raised it while shifting her feet. The room wasn’t suited to Akko’s favored form, Ataru, but it was her only chance against Diana. The blonde had always been the superior duelist.

“I knew,” Akko admitted.

Divis pulled her helmet from her head with her free hand, and Akko’s heart seized. Diana was just as beautiful as ever. She was just as perfect as the last day Akko had seen her, platinum blonde hair spilling over her shoulders while she held Akko captive with crystal blue eyes.

“Is this what you truly want, Akko?” Diana asked, voice shaking. Whether it shook out of anger or fear, Akko could not tell. The Knight of Ren continued, “Do you want to die here today? For Ama to die alongside you?”

From the ground, Ama snarled, “Go ahead, you traitorous bi—”

As Diana’s eyes narrowed, Akko shouted, “No! Diana you can’t!”

The blonde cut her eyes, glaring at Akko. “Diana Kavandi is dead, Akko. My name is Divis Ren.”

She paused and stepped back from Ama. “Take Ama and leave this place. Never come back. I won’t offer again.”

Before Akko could refuse, an explosion from outside rocked the temple and a portion of the wall fell towards Akko. A piece of stone struck her temple, stunning her before she could move or respond with the Force.

The shattered rock stopped inches from crushing her. 

Disoriented, she turned her head, still lying where she had fallen after being struck, to see Diana’s determined expression, arm outstretched as she held up the heavy stone.

As Ama scrambled to her feet, S’Cee and Lotte ran into the room. The Dathomirian witch fired her bow in the blink of an eye, hitting Diana square in the back with a stun bolt. 

Lotte instantly held out her hand to catch the stone, taking up the slack of the now unconscious Knight of Ren.

Ama pulled the wounded Jedi out from under the rocks before Lotte let them go.

The blonde Jedi stared at the fallen Knight. “Is that…?” 

“It is,” Ama answered, checking Akko’s wound. “You’ll be okay,” she said to Akko. “We’re going to have a long talk later, though.”

Akko nodded, her eyes glued to Diana. She started to go to her friend, but Ama stopped her.

“S’Cee,” Ama commanded. “Lotte… secure the Knight.”

The two obeyed the redhead’s order.

“What was that explosion?” Akko asked.

S’Cee chuckled. “Our smuggler friends got the ship working again.”

Lotte gave a sharp, quick nod, adding, “And they decided to take out the droids in one shot.”

Akko allowed herself to be led to the ship. Once the unconscious Diana was secured, her hands and feet bound, Akko sat beside where she lay.

Ama sighed as she took the seat beside Akko. “Are you okay?”

“How can anything be okay?” Akko asked, her voice hoarse with emotion.

The other Jedi’s eyes dropped. “I don’t know, Akko. I truly don’t know.”

For a few minutes, the two sat in silence as Hanna, Barra, and Cons took care of the flying. Lotte, Jas, and S’Cee were carefully not looking at Akko and Ama although the three did occasionally glance at Diana’s unconscious form. The pain in Lotte’s eyes was clear when she did so, and Jas squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. The demure Jedi hadn’t been as close to Diana as Akko—in truth, no one had been—but she knew her well enough to find this situation disturbing. S’Cee politely kept her interest quiet, sensing the dark mood of the Jedi.

Clearing her throat, Ama said, “We’ve got the holocron fragments and captured a Knight. What do we do now?”

“We save her,” Akko said, defiantly. “We bring Diana Kavandi back to the light.”

She did not realize that she had begun delicately stroking Diana’s hair with trembling fingers, seeking comfort in the reality that her friend was here and not hidden behind a hateful mask, wielding a crimson lightsaber as she did the bidding of the First Order.

Ama nodded, her eyes flicking to Akko’s hand tangled in Diana’s hair. “Alright, Akko. I’m in. I’ll be right beside you the whole way.”

“So will I,” Lotte insisted, and the others instantly followed suit, even the two smugglers and the droid.

“Thanks guys,” Akko said, her voice breaking. “You don’t know what this means to me.”

She did not take her hand from Diana the entire trip to Ahch-To. Somehow, and if pressed Akko couldn’t explain it, she felt more whole at this moment than she had in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Needless to say, unless the reception this fiction receives is akin to a dumpster fire, it's going to be continued. My beta reader, asimaiyat, practically demanded I do so before agreeing to edit and critique it.
> 
> Alright then, on to my Author's Notes...
> 
> Star Wars is my first fandom, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I've never written anything Star Wars or Star Wars-adjacent for that reason. I don't feel I can ever do it justice, and I can only hope I approached doing it justice in this fiction.
> 
> You might have noticed that Prompt #5 doesn't precisely exist while you're reading this (or you're reading this after I've finally posted Prompt #5 before I've had a chance to edit this Author's Note.) I've started and stopped Prompt #5 three times now, and I'm on a fourth attempt, which I have high hopes for. To be quite honest, most ideas that pop to mind for that prompt end up in areas I'm not super comfortable reading and especially writing about. Yet through adversity we demonstrate our virtues, and I fully intend to finish Prompt #5... soon. Hopefully. We'll see soon enough.
> 
> Now, on to this Star Wars AU. I'd really appreciate comments and reviews because honestly I'm nervous in a different way than I usually am when posting. Most often, I'm nervous because perhaps I've written something that's not up to my standards or perhaps I've unwittingly transgressed across lines. For instance with Prompt #3, I had a hard time writing anything to do with cuddling because I despise being touched myself. So I'm unfamiliar with that kind of affection... and therefore when I wrote it, I had no idea if it would ring true because I spent most of it fighting the heebie-jeebies over hugging and such.
> 
> Star Wars is different. This was the film series that inspired me. This was the film series that in many respects saved my life a long time ago in a locale not that far, far away. Star Wars is precious to me, and I need on a fundamental level to show it respect and honor by not writing something hackish and pasting its name onto the work.
> 
> With that said, I realize there's some technical stuff going on in here, such as referencing the films, two cartoon series (The Clone Wars and Rebels), a bit of the expanded canon kinda sorta with the lightsaber combat forms, etc. That can be overwhelming, and honestly if anyone has questions, I'd love a chance to answer them in the comments!
> 
> Also you might notice the title comes from a rather brilliant song by The Mountain Goats. They are amazing. Listen to them.
> 
> In the end, I had a blast writing this. I hope you enjoy reading it, and thank you for the patience and kindness all of you have shown me in leaving kudos and comments on my other works. They are much appreciated.


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